What is “equality” to you? To me, it means that everyone shall receive the same opportunities in order to pursue their dreams to the fullest. Of my years, I have encountered and witnessed how opportunities are unequally distributed based on gender, sexuality, religion, race, status, etc. We the people of the United States claim that America is a place where we have freedom and opportunities for all but although we greatly stress the importance of these privileges, there is still inequality that blocks our way from becoming a better nation. Centuries ago, jobs were mainly only for men while women stayed at home to do housework and care for the children. When WWII broke out, women started having more opportunities in the work industry. Since then, the percentage of women in the work industry have been increasingly rising. Although it seems as if we are slowly reaching equality between men and women in the working industry due to the increase in women in the work field, there is still a disadvantage towards females. Throughout history and at this very moment, women are still being paid less compared to men even if they both have the same occupation and possess the same level of skills.

In reference to the center of American Progress, a common response to the cause of the gender wage gap is that women choose to not apply to higher paying jobs or choose to not work longer hours. It’s not that women choose to not apply for higher paying jobs nor do they choose not to work longer hours, but instead the working industry was made so that men were paid more compared to women. According to Yale Global, women are more educated but they still get paid less. It is clear that the gender wage gap is more than just a personal choice. If women did not care for applying to higher paying jobs and working longer hours, then why do they go out of their ways to receive an education and a degree? No individual goes to college with a mindset that they are just going to earn a degree and not apply for higher paying jobs. The reason why students, both female and male, attend college is because they want a high paying job so they can live a happy life. No female should receive less just because of their gender.

Shouldn’t families be able to have pay equity and children? A women should have every right to have children and also have the same wage as a man. One reason why the gender wage gap exists is because women are granted maternity leave. Women are usually the parent who takes time off to raise small children, which means they are out of the workforce for a few years and this results in a decrease in their earnings when they return. In my opinion, maternity leave should not be a reason as to why women should be paid less than men. Women have every right to take time off during pregnancy. It is only natural for a women to be able to take time off when bearing a child, therefore this should not be a reason for lowering the wage for women. This matters to me because someday I would love to have a family of my own someday and a job where I can help support my family in the future. All mothers should have pay equity, that way they can support their children and provide them with a bright future.

Another reason for the existence of the gender wage gap is due to the reason that men are the breadwinner in the family. Although this argument seems reasonable, I disagree. There are single mothers out there who have to provide for their children, yet because of this gender wage gap due to the reason that men are the ones who provide for the family, single mothers struggle to provide for their children. With lower wages, a single mother would only struggle in raising and providing for her child’s or children’s futures. We all want our children to have a bright future ahead of them, regardless of if they are with both parents or with a single parent.

In the workforce, women are undervalued. Although they have the opportunity to education and some graduate with a doctoral degree, according to center of American Progress, their doctoral degree is not as valuable as a male’s bachelor degree. As a college student, I strive to better myself by receiving an education that’ll give me an opportunity to receive a well-paying job, a job where I and a male coworker of mine will get paid equally. Men and women can both perform their jobs equally the same, so why should one be paid less than the other? As a female, I speak for all women in the world. I ask that you as the President of the United State seek change in creating equality for all whether if it’s establishing a law or simply giving a speech to make this issue known, it would truly change the lives of many.

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This is a youth-powered social network that was started in 2003 by a group of teachers from local sites of the National Writing Project.

We merged several earlier blogging projects. We have found that there are many advantages to bringing students together in one site that lives beyond any particular class. It's easier for individual students to read and write about their own passions, to connect with other students, comment on each other's work, and create multimedia posts for each other. Further, it's been exciting for us to pool our knowledge about curriculum, connected learning, and digital literacies.

If being part of such a community makes sense to you, we invite you to join us. We welcome all youth and any teacher interested in having students publish online and participate in the give and take of a social network like Youth Voices.